WWYD? Airline rebooked our seats and we're all spread out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and children are obligated to be seated together. They will switch you up at the gate. They will not let an 8 year old sit alone, etc.

In my experience, this is not true. Like PP, I had my then two year old in one part of the plane, my 8 year old in another and me in another. We needed a whole row together. Flight attendants didn't help and people were not kind about moving. It was an awful experience.

I have an situation coming up that i'm a little nervous about. Flying to FL and on the way back, DH, DS age 2, and I are scattered in middle seats throughout the plane. It actually didn't give me the option to select seats when I was booking and I didn't notice til I got the confirmation that we weren't seated together. I called American and actually tried to switch flights to one with more open availability... there were no other options that day (not sure she would have done it anyhow). The woman I talked to said they would make every effort at the airport to get us together... the flight is this week so we shall see what happens. Worst case scenario, since DS is only 2, I will keep him on my lap for the flight. If that ends up happening, sucks that we paid $$$$ for the seat. Ugh.

You can't do that. Under two yes. Not a two year old. They need to be in their own seat.

Do you have a better suggestion? On all our recent flights (at age 2+), he's wanted to sit in my lap for most of the filght anyhow. If the options are him sitting in a middle seat by himself or on my lap, I'm pretty sure on my lap will be preferred by everyone involved.

[Anonymous]

I am not arguing with you. Just saying the airline is going. Require him to be in his seat fir take off and landing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and children are obligated to be seated together. They will switch you up at the gate. They will not let an 8 year old sit alone, etc.

In my experience, this is not true. Like PP, I had my then two year old in one part of the plane, my 8 year old in another and me in another. We needed a whole row together. Flight attendants didn't help and people were not kind about moving. It was an awful experience.

I have an situation coming up that i'm a little nervous about. Flying to FL and on the way back, DH, DS age 2, and I are scattered in middle seats throughout the plane. It actually didn't give me the option to select seats when I was booking and I didn't notice til I got the confirmation that we weren't seated together. I called American and actually tried to switch flights to one with more open availability... there were no other options that day (not sure she would have done it anyhow). The woman I talked to said they would make every effort at the airport to get us together... the flight is this week so we shall see what happens. Worst case scenario, since DS is only 2, I will keep him on my lap for the flight. If that ends up happening, sucks that we paid $$$$ for the seat. Ugh.

You can't do that. Under two yes. Not a two year old. They need to be in their own seat.

Do you have a better suggestion? On all our recent flights (at age 2+), he's wanted to sit in my lap for most of the filght anyhow. If the options are him sitting in a middle seat by himself or on my lap, I'm pretty sure on my lap will be preferred by everyone involved.

If he is past his 2nd birthday he will have to be belted into his own seat during take-off, landing and any time when seatbelts required (turbulence) happens. Outside of those times he could sit on your lap although now many airlines want people to stay in their seats with the belts on as the default so depending on the flight they might say something. That said, i am sure someone on a flight will give up their seat when it is a 2 yr old involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me just add that there are decent people in the world who will accepts middle seat so a family can stay together.

Yes, I will, especially on a shorter flight. 2 hours or less I can sit anywhere if someone is having a hardship.

Sorry, no way am I giving up an aisle to sit in a middle. A grown up needs to be next to a child, but a family of four or five does not need to be all together.

Get your act together and check the seat maps before you book the ticket, or check in at the earliest moment, like I do, or pay the extra to get a choice seat.

In case you didn't read the original post, OP's original flight was cancelled and in re-booking them onto another flight the airline assigned them to seating all over the plane. Not her fault.

Sheesh.

OP here. Yes, this was the scenario.

After my first call to United about the scattered seats, I did try to buy upgraded seats online to get us together. Two flights didn't have an economy plus section at all. One flight had only scattered single seats left in economy plus. I thought I got lucky on the last segment: 3 economy plus seats together in one row! Unfortunately it was an exit row and could not accept minors.

To the person whose seat is separated from your 2 year old and DH: keep trying by phone in case there have been any changes. If it's not sorted before your travel date, check in as early as possible to request a change. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

A friend's flight was cancelled and they rebooked her 4 and 7 year old on a different flight than her new flight. Anyway, they ALWAYS separate our family (which is why I prefer Southwest for family trips) and we have always been able to work it out at the gate or on the plane. I imagine it will get more difficult as they get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had an airline separate me from my then 16 month old daughter. I was like, "OKay, no problem!" and plopped her in her seat, buckled her seatbelt, gave her her cup of water and lovey, and told her I'd see her later and skipped off to my row.

Two minutes later I heard her screaming, One minute after that I heard a flight attendant - the same one who'd frostily told me no, she could not give us back our original seats - yelling "Whose baby is this?!" and I smiled at her and said she was mine.

Funny how quickly they managed to get us seats together after that.

Ideal in theory. Doesn't happen in real life.

Was there a car seat involved? Who was seated next to your DD? Did you really ask the flight attendant for your original seats (which would have been filled by other people - why would you ask for those seats, rather than just any adjacent seats?)? I want to believe this story...

[Anonymous]

I was annoyed when my 3 year old son and I were separated by 2 rows. When I asked the attendant at the desk to put us together, she claimed she couldn't. Another passenger offered her seat, and that was when the attendant announced that everyone must sit in their assigned seat, under no circumstance was anyone to trade seats. Uhhh...won't fly with them again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was annoyed when my 3 year old son and I were separated by 2 rows. When I asked the attendant at the desk to put us together, she claimed she couldn't. Another passenger offered her seat, and that was when the attendant announced that everyone must sit in their assigned seat, under no circumstance was anyone to trade seats. Uhhh...won't fly with them again!

Wow, that is really ridiculous. I can't believe the flight attendant did that. What airline?

Why were you separated? Were you unable to get assigned seats at booking?

If this issue is important to you, you really should not book the flight unless you are able to book seats when you buy the flight.

I understand that sometimes families do book seats, and get moved, but families who just booked the flight and don't get seats and then expect people to move all around for them really need to think about what they're doing.

Choice seats are almost always available. If there's no seat assignment available, it is very possible the plane is overbooked and you might get screwed over. Go on another flight.

My sister doesn't take the time when booking to find flights with good seats. She refuses to pay for choice seats. And she doesn't check in 24 hours before. Then she gets to the airplane and expect people to move all around for her. People may have chosen that flight in order to get a good seat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents and children are obligated to be seated together. They will switch you up at the gate. They will not let an 8 year old sit alone, etc.

In my experience, this is not true. Like PP, I had my then two year old in one part of the plane, my 8 year old in another and me in another. We needed a whole row together. Flight attendants didn't help and people were not kind about moving. It was an awful experience.

I have an situation coming up that i'm a little nervous about. Flying to FL and on the way back, DH, DS age 2, and I are scattered in middle seats throughout the plane. It actually didn't give me the option to select seats when I was booking and I didn't notice til I got the confirmation that we weren't seated together. I called American and actually tried to switch flights to one with more open availability... there were no other options that day (not sure she would have done it anyhow). The woman I talked to said they would make every effort at the airport to get us together... the flight is this week so we shall see what happens. Worst case scenario, since DS is only 2, I will keep him on my lap for the flight. If that ends up happening, sucks that we paid $$$$ for the seat. Ugh.

You can't do that. Under two yes. Not a two year old. They need to be in their own seat.

Do you have a better suggestion? On all our recent flights (at age 2+), he's wanted to sit in my lap for most of the filght anyhow. If the options are him sitting in a middle seat by himself or on my lap, I'm pretty sure on my lap will be preferred by everyone involved.

If he is past his 2nd birthday he will have to be belted into his own seat during take-off, landing and any time when seatbelts required (turbulence) happens. Outside of those times he could sit on your lap although now many airlines want people to stay in their seats with the belts on as the default so depending on the flight they might say something. That said, i am sure someone on a flight will give up their seat when it is a 2 yr old involved.

He's actually a pretty little guy so in my experience they haven't asked him to put him in his own seat at all - the flight attendants probably think he's under 2. In any case, I'll keep calling and hopefully they'll be able to switch us around before the flight so I won't have to worry about it. I'm annoyed that the seat map wasn't obvious during the booking process - possibly because it was a USAir flight being booked through American?

[Anonymous]

I still fault the airline. By default minors should always be assigned to a seat next to at least one of the accompanying adu

[Anonymous]

Never fly an airline that won't let you pick your seats when you make your reservation. Since I always purchase my tickets online directly the airline, I've never had a problem. However, one time I did give up my seat and was moved to the one seat left in business class.

My kids are teens now so no problem. But when they were young I wouldn't even consider being separated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never fly an airline that won't let you pick your seats when you make your reservation. Since I always purchase my tickets online directly the airline, I've never had a problem. However, one time I did give up my seat and was moved to the one seat left in business class.

My kids are teens now so no problem. But when they were young I wouldn't even consider being separated.

I don't think you understand the issue. Flying with some major airlines has changed dramatically in recent years. United, AA, maybe some others don't really care if you select the seat ahead of time. They are always changing aircrafts, which means the seating configuration can't be relied on ahead of time. If you purchased assigned seats for your family and are flying United, you should count on "assigned" as meaning nothing. They reassign seats and separate groups, often seating small children away from adults, at the last minute.

OP, don't be fooled into thinking buying Economy Plus ahead of time guarantees you anything. They can and will bump you out of Economy Plus and scatter your group all over the damned plane. Speaking from experience. I hate United.

[Anonymous]

Agree that United sucks. I was booked on the 14 hour flight from Dubai to Dulles a couple years ago with DH and my 2 and 4 y.o. DCs - attendants put us all separate in middle seats, even though we had prebooked a 3+1 seating configuration. Ticket agent said ask gate agent, who said, 'Sorry, can't help you.' We ended up switching on board but I couldn't believe the shitty service. Never again on United.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

if someone has made the effort to check in or time or pay more for a window or aisle, do not ask them to switch to middle. Or another undesirable seat like economy vs economy plus.

Not good enough. United can and has bumped me from Economy Plus back to standard economy, separating me from a minir child in the process. Read the fine print, they can do this and are only obligated to credit your credit card when the plane takes off with you bumped from the upgraded seat.

Of course, if you change your mind about the uograde, you aren't getting anything back.

I think United did this to accomodate some 1K fliers who booked the day before. I understand these people subsidize the system for the rest of us, but I would like to believe that a contract is a contract for BOTH parties, even if something better comes along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had an airline separate me from my then 16 month old daughter. I was like, "OKay, no problem!" and plopped her in her seat, buckled her seatbelt, gave her her cup of water and lovey, and told her I'd see her later and skipped off to my row.

Two minutes later I heard her screaming, One minute after that I heard a flight attendant - the same one who'd frostily told me no, she could not give us back our original seats - yelling "Whose baby is this?!" and I smiled at her and said she was mine.

Funny how quickly they managed to get us seats together after that.

Ideal in theory. Doesn't happen in real life.

Was there a car seat involved? Who was seated next to your DD? Did you really ask the flight attendant for your original seats (which would have been filled by other people - why would you ask for those seats, rather than just any adjacent seats?)? I want to believe this story...

Nope, no carseat. I think sometimes flight attendants feel like they or actually do get treated like shit, and it presses them to go on power trips. DD and I were supposed to have a middle and aisle seat. When I checked in about 20 hours before the flight, they moved my seat and left hers. I called and they wouldn't change it so we could sit together or even one in front of another (which although not ideal, I could have worked with). Next day at the gate, I asked them to fix it, and the woman was very brisk in her "no." I figured rather than getting into a whole big thing with her, I'd do what I did and let things shake out. I knew DD would start crying as soon as she couldn't see me. And I knew it wouldn't traumatize her for life. She's 6 now, and loves hearing that story.